Leave a Comment · Posted on November 9, 2018
Hatching a Cinema For All…
The wonderful Cinema For All have chosen young writers from Hive to become cultural film programmers, setting up inclusive film screenings for young people in Burngreave, Sheffield to inspire them to write.
The project, currently awaiting a name and led by young writer and singer, Danaë Wellington, will see Burngreave Library transformed into a cinema showing seminal liberation-through-the-power-of-words films including SLAM (Marc Levin/Saul Williams), Freedom Writers Diary (based on the true story of Erin Gruwell and her young Freedom Writers) and Straight Outta Compton (a biopic about west coast hip-hop collective NWA).
The project hopes to give out free writing journals and will support emerging writers to lead workshops exploring writing and poetry based at the library.
The Cinema For All initiative, Launchpad Hothouse, is providing training sessions, bursaries to cover the first film licenses, free-loan equipment, and Cinema For All membership for the year. Hive is supporting the young team through organising and marketing, and Danae Wellington through mentoring and delivering follow-on workshops as part of the Hatch programme – developing young writers for next steps.
It’s hoped that the project will join with another Sheffield Hatch project to showcase work in spring 2019.
Watch this space for updates!
Big thanks to:
Ellie Ragdale from Cinema For All who’s supporting the project, and to Marcia Layne and Erica Patterson at Burngreave Library
About Cinema For All
Cinema For All believes that watching films as part of a community can change lives. It supports grassroots, community, volunteer-led cinema and has an impressive 70-year history in the UK. Its office is based in Sheffield but it runs projects across the country. Traditionally community, volunteer-led cinema was found in more rural areas. These days, you’ll find it everywhere!
Find out more about Cinema For All at cinemaforall.org.uk
Leave a Comment · Posted on October 4, 2018
Georgie Woodhead wins Foyle Young Poet of the Year
Huge congratulations are in order to 15-year-old Georgie Woodhead, one of the 15 winning poets of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year 2018, and to Maya Williams-Hamm, 16, highly-commended in the competition.
Judges Daljit Nagra and Caroline Bird (herself a former winner) chose 15 winners and 85 commended poets from a whopping 6,000 poets and nearly 11,000 poems. Writers from 83 different countries entered the competition, from as far afield as Trinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Malaysia. Selecting just 100 winners was a tough job – Daljit Nagra has spoken about “the maturity of the work we read; so many of our young poets showed a keen awareness of serious issues such as identity politics, environment issues and the global tensions currently between nation states.”
The Foyle Young Poets 2018 anthology will see the top 15 poems in print, with the commended poems being published in an online anthology.
Both poets went to London on 2nd Oct to receive their honour. Georgie also recorded her winning poet for The Verb with South Yorkshire’s very own, Ian McMillan (airing on Radio 3 at 10pm on Friday 5th Oct).
You can read Georgie’s and all the winning poems here
Georgie Woodhead Bio
Georgie Woodhead is a young writer from Sheffield who attends Sheffield Young Writers. She’s performed at various young writers’ events, and festivals including the Ted Hughes Poetry Festival 2018. She was one of two highly commended young poets in the Cuckoo Northern Writers Award 2018 and she’s been published in Hive anthologies, halfway smile and wild poetry.
Top/bottom photos: Hayley Madden for The Poetry Society
Leave a Comment · Posted on September 16, 2018
Hive Fiction programme
Hive Fiction programme for writers (18-30s) – take your writing to the next levelÂ
Writing can be a lonely and a tricky business to navigate, even for those who’ve been doing it for some time. It’s difficult to know where to get feedback, or if what you’re writing makes the grade. And then there’s what to do with a story or novel once you’ve finished.
If you’re an aspiring short story writer, or novelist, keen to take your craft to the next level, Hive is running the Hive Fiction programme offering an immersive set of workshops over several months providing the help and guidance to get to where you want to be. Join prize-winning author, editor, and short story writer, Nik Perring, for all things fiction, and:
- identify and work towards your writing goals
- generate great ideas and turn them into brilliant stories
- focus on the mechanics of fiction writing such as creating compelling and believable characters, convincing dialogue and description, and strong plots
- learn how to edit your work to make it publication-ready. Even down to identifying the small changes that can turn something good into something brilliant
- receive one-to-one feedback on work and tips and insights into publishing routes and opportunities
Who’s the Hive Fiction programme for?
The programme is for fiction writers, aged 18 to 30 in South Yorkshire, at any stage of their writing journey who would like to get more serious. You might lack direction, sticking power, or confidence. You might have a project you want to get stuck into, or want to sharpen your skills, or focus on honing your work.
All levels, genres and interests welcome | Meet like-minded people | Refreshments | Where: central Sheffield near trains/buses
Intro session TBC – Regular fortnightly sessions – day and time subject to majority interest in the first meeting (likely a weekday evening or Saturday afternoon)
Cost: The programme is subsidised by Hive South Yorkshire meaning a cost of just £55 for 12 sessions, one to one tutorials and support at key stages (around £3.50 a session). If cost is a barrier, please let us know in your application. Places are limited.
To Apply: Send up to 4xA4 pages of work (Times/font size 12), and up to 600 words saying what your interests are, where you are with your writing, and how you’d like the programme to help you to fiction@hivesouthyorkshire.com (also include your age, date of birth, town you live in and postcode)– by midnight 31st Oct (before the pumpkin turruns into November!)
Nik Perring is a short story writer and the author of five books. His work has appeared in many fine places all over the world including Smokelong, Word Riot, 3 :AM Magazine, and The Fiction Desk. It’s also been read on the radio, performed on the stage, printed on fliers and appeared, with Dave Eggars’, on a High School Distance Learning course in the US.
Nik is also an editor and a teacher of writing, working with both adults and young people, everywhere from primary schools and high schools to universities and the BBC. He’s a key facilitator for Hive South Yorkshire and writer in residence, for First Story, at Leeds West Academy, and Melior Academy in Scunthorpe.
……..
Hive Fiction is part of the Hatch programme – next step opportunities for young and emerging writers aged 18 to 30
Leave a Comment · Posted on September 12, 2018
Hive Yorkshire Young Writers Competition
Leave a Comment · Posted on September 7, 2018
Our young steering group has hatched…
Hive’s new young writers’ steering group met for the first time on Wednesday. It was so lovely to have great conversation with young and emerging writers that have come into Hive via every route in and have benefited in different ways and taken different paths, and are now wanting to help shape and support Hive’s next steps! Thank you all for coming and contributing to a great discussion. New plans are hatching!
Leave a Comment · Posted on September 2, 2018
Introducing the Hatch programme
From September 2018, we are so pleased to have been granted funding from Arts Council England to pilot a new programme – Hatch – offering a number of next step opportunities for young writers from 18 to 30, including training and development opportunities and an enabling fund allowing emerging writers to progress their practice, explore new skills and experiences, and shape content, audiences and approaches to producing and accessing writing.
We’ll also be working with community partners on new projects and kicking off a Yorkshire-wide magazine/journal online that with involve young writers as guest editors and creative journalists, and of course be open to all (14-30 years) for submissions at key dates during the year.
Watch this space!
Hive South Yorkshire is funded by Arts Council England
Leave a Comment · Posted on September 2, 2018
Moor Mother & Hive young writers
What better way to kick off the autumn than with the Ted Hughes Poetry Festival in Mexborough!? And we’re very excited that 10 young writers from Hive will be performing alongside the amazing Afro-futurist, Moor Mother, all the way from Philly USA for this Friday’s opening event.
Our performers are: Danaë Wellington, Salma Lynch, Warda Yassin, Dominic Heslop, Georgie Woodhead, Sile Sibanda, Vertaa Lune, Ali Hosin, Kiran Malhi-Bearn (also of Verse Matters) and doing a longer set just before Moor Mother we have 16 year old spoken word artist and rapper Fionn McCloskey, aka Hythyn.
It’s going to be a great weekend so come and join us in Mexborough – a quick hop on the train from Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham. Click here for the full programme.
Where: Mexborough Business Centre, College Road, Mexborough, S64 9JP
Friday 7 September -6.15pm – 9.30pm
Tickets: £5 (general admission) / £3 (student & under 25 years). A limited number of weekender tickets are also available at £15 (includes Friday & Saturday night performances and one workshop). To reserve your place, please book through our TicketTailor event page
Moor Mother is an international touring musician, poet, visual artist, and workshop facilitator from Philadelphia, USA. She has performed at numerous festivals, colleges, galleries, and museums around the world.
As a soundscape and visual artist, her work has been featured at Baltic Biennale, Samek Art Museum, Vox Populi, Pearlman Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art Chicago, ICA Philadelphia. As a workshop facilitator, she has presented at Cornell University, MOFO Festival, Moogfest, Black Dot Gallery and others. Moor Mother is co-founder and curator of Rockers Philly Project a 10-year long running event series and festival focused on marginalised musicians and artists spanning multiple genres of music.
Her debut album Fetish Bones was released on Don Giovanni records to critical acclaim. Fetish Bones was named 3rd best album of the year by The Wire Magazine, number 1 by Jazz Right Now and has appeared on numerous end of the year lists from Pitchfork, Noisy, Rolling Stone, and Spin Magazine. Moor Mother was named by Rolling Stone as one of the 10 artists to watch in 2016 and named Bandcamp’s 2016 artist of the year. Moor Mother released a 2nd LP called The Motionless Present commissioned by CTM X VINYL FACTORY 2017. Moor Mother has appeared in the Quietus, Interview Magazine, The Guardian, Crack, Pitchfork and others. Moor Mother’s schedule has included Berhaign, Borealis, CTM Festival, Le Guess Who, Unsound, Flow and Donau Festival, Rewire, Boiler Room and MOMA PS1.
As a durational performance artist she has been commissioned by Moog Festival, Vox Populi Gallery, Icebox Gallery and others. Her first book of poetry called Fetish Bones was released on The AfroFuturist Affair small press. As a member of Black Quantum Futurism Collective (BQF), she has been a part of two literary works and several zines.
Top image courtesy of jazzrightnow.com
Leave a Comment · Posted on August 27, 2018
Poetic narratives for performance with Andy Craven-Griffiths
Poetic narratives for performance – with poet & playwright Andy Craven Griffiths
Hive Young Writers’ Day in partnership with Off the Shelf
Sat 6th Oct – 10.30am – 4 pm | Venue: Sheffield Institute of Education, Charles Street, S1 2ND
Open to young people aged 14 – 25 years from across South Yorkshire
Write poetic narratives for performance with poet & playwright Andy Craven-Griffiths. Learn how to write work to be spoken as a satisfying story, and how to deliver with rhythm and (optional) rhyme. This is a workshop for writers of any form, at any level of experience, wanting an opportunity to explore different ways of getting their writing into a live context using poetic performance. Previous Glastonbury Slam Champion and Verb New Voice, Andy is currently re-writing his one-person play about kindness, Joygernaut, for a second tour: www.joygernaut.com
Supported by Off the Shelf & Sheffield Hallam University Faculty of Development & Society
Tickets: only £5/£3 concessions, including refreshments (but not lunch)
Discounts: Hive is particularly keen to encourage young people who wouldn’t normally access this type of opportunity, and there are always discounts available for a number of tickets to support individuals who may be unable to pay in full, or to support travel costs within the region. Get in touch ASAP before places fill up if that sounds like you.
Booking: To book a place on this Writers’ Day, email kate@hivesouthyorkshire.com
Where: The Institute of Education, Charles Street Sheffield. This is just off Arundel Gate and Arundel Street, 5 minutes from Sheffield train & bus stations.
Someone will be there to greet people at the reception from 10.15am. Charles Street Building info here
Google map info here:Â 133 Charles Street, Sheffield S1 2ND
…..
Hive Young Writers’ Days
Hive Young Writers’ Days are a chance for young writers, whatever your interest and ability, to develop your writing with support from professional writers, while meeting other young writers, and getting involved in the Hive young writers’ network.
Hive Young Writers’ Days are open to young people 14 to 25 (this changes sometimes). If you don’t quite fit, but you’d like to come, get in touch with: kate@hivesouthyorkshire.com)
For more about our writers’ days click here.
Andy Craven-Griffiths is a writer, rapper and performer based in Leeds. He has performed poetry across the UK and abroad. He has also had work published in various poetry journals, broadcast (Radio 1, Radio 4, BBC 2), and commissioned by the Arts Council and Rethink mental health charity. In 2016 Andy was one of Radio 3’s Verb New Voices and made work for Oxford University Press as an animator. He has run poetry workshops for over 25,000 young people, and has a chapter in the Bloomsbury book Making Poetry Happen.
See Andy in poetic action here.
Leave a Comment · Posted on July 8, 2018
halfway smile – young writers anthology
We are excited to say, halfway smile is here and available to buy! This wonderfully moving and diverse anthology showcases 73 works of poetry, short story and flash — the work of a whopping 69 young and emerging writers in the region including award winners Warda Yassin, Eloise Unerman and Georgie Woodhead. It also celebrates the winners of our inaugural Hive Young Writers’ Competition, open to young writers from across the region.
A wonderful gift for fiction and poetry lovers and a snip at ÂŁ6.00!
“An astonishingly vibrant, varied and accomplished collection — a real treat awaits the reader here.” Kate Long
“This is writing that bubbles with promise, that shows real application of the craft of writing, and that gives the reader a sense of exhilaration at the ways in which these young writers manipulate language, play with it, and make it jump through hoops. Read and enjoy!” Ian McMillan
Buy halfway smile
You can buy halfway smile in Sheffield at the wonderful All Good Stuff at Butcher Works on Arundel Street (near the uni and train station). Or if you can’t get to the shop, we can deliver by post. You can pay by internet bank transfer or Paypal.
If by post, drop us a line to halfwaysmile@hivesouthyorkshire.com with: 1) the amount of copies you’d like 2) how you’d like to pay (Paypal or bank transfer). We’ll get back promptly confirming the amount with details of how to pay.
1 copy ÂŁ6.00 + ÂŁ1 pp (total ÂŁ7)
(If you’d like to purchase more copies, do contact us for a price)
Why is it so cheap you might ask? Because we want it to be accessible to everyone, young and old. Proceeds go back into the project.Â
This is a limited edition, not-for-profit publication in part funded
by Arts Council of England |www.hivesouthyorkshire.com
Leave a Comment · Posted on July 8, 2018
Readings – Eloise Unerman Ledbury Festival 2018
At the end of June, Barnsley young poet, Eloise Unerman, who attends Rotherham Young Writers, had the exciting opportunity to be young poet in residence at the Ledbury Poetry Festival.
As the winner of the young person’s category of the Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition 2017, Eloise was asked to attend the 2018 festival and write a poem especially for it, and talk about her inspirations as a poet. She also gave a reading of some of her work.
Phillippa Slinger, Festival Manager said: I can’t tell you how lovely it was to have Eloise here. She read beautifully at the Launch event featuring Young Foyles and all visiting poets including international stars Jackie Kay and Major Jackson. Eloise joined in many other events, and even came to the poets’ supper and got to mingle with loads of national and international poets. It is so much the aim of the young poet in residence scheme to allow young poets to develop in whatever way they can, and she really made the most of all her opportunities here. We are immensely grateful to Eloise for spending her time so fruitfully here.
Eloise reading 04.53 to Bristol (her winning poem) at the Ledbury Poetry Competition Winners Event
Eloise reading various poems at the festival launch event
Eloise talking about her inspirations as a writer & performing her poem Ledbury, specially written for the festival
Ledbury Poetry Festival do a wonderful job of bringing poets into the festival family and supporting them and encouraging them back again in future, and we just want to say a massive thank you to the festival and to Phillippa Slinger for their ongoing support of young and emerging, as well as established, writers.
To hear all of the wonderful readings from this year’s festival, click here
The Young Poet in Residence scheme is supported by Foyles as part of the Festival’s Emerging Poets Programme which includes: Ledbury Emerging Critics (link), Voice Coaching residential workshop, 20 mins events and competition winners’ events.
Eloise Unerman bio
Eloise Unerman is a young writer from Goldthorpe, Barnsley who writes poetry and short stories. She is a member of the Hive Young Writers network, and recently joined The Writing Squad. She was awarded the Cuckoo Northern Writers Awards in 2017, and her poetry has won first prize in the young people’s categories of the Barnsley Hear My Voice competition 2017 and the Ledbury Poetry Competition 2017. She has since been awarded young poet in residence for the Ledbury Poetry Festival 2018 where she’s been commissioned to write her first poem.
Eloise received a commendation in both Photofictions 2014 and Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2017 and she was shortlisted for the New Poets Prize 2016/17. She has been published in anthologies: Everyday Hymn (Writing Yorkshire 2015), Anthology of Young Poets (Paper Swans Press 2017), Introduction X (The Poetry Business 2017), Wild Poetry (Hive 2017), Cuckoo Press Issue 6 in NARC magazine in 2017 and Foyle Young Poets of the Year Online Anthology (The Poetry Society 2018).
